“It allows people to recognise how similar they are in the challenges they’re facing every day and how they feel about them,” she explained. “One of the best things in the team I observed, was that these griping rituals helped doctors and nurses realised they were feeling the same way about situations and they weren’t that different.”

“By engaging in those little rituals in their care planning meetings they processed some of that negative energy and left feeling more energised.”

That said, it can quickly turn toxic unless you abide by a few simple rules:

“You can only gripe about people that are not in the room and you need to externalise the gripe. So, the gripe’s target needs to be something everyone can agree on, like the structure in which the team is working, or difficult practitioners working in other services. Never individuals in the team.”

On the other hand, Dr Pouthier says joking can help “turn a problematic situation into a source of humour.”

“Coming together to joke about problems can help teams work through them and generate positive emotions in the process. This is important not only for bonding, but also from a cognitive perspective, positive emotions help keep you more open-minded.”

Lucy BodeLucy is WH’s Digital Editor, Features Writer, social media guru and resident woo. A long black lover and foodie at heart, she considers peanut butter an hourly staple and believes chardonnay is the superior drop. When she's not at the beach, barre or yoga studio you'll find her coming up with new and improved ways to kill her unkillable houseplant